Monday - gone already

I got up this morning and trotted up to feed Yukon - he was not there at the moment so I went to dump his food in his pan and it was still full?????? This is very weird as he is always about to run you over to get his food?????

I trotted down to the barn and he is in there and looks fine? So I split some wood on the little buster and then let the chickens out and open the door on the building for the others to have fresh air and go get read for my counselor appointment. I realize I have not had any pelvic pain since we started this so if this is what it takes - then so be it.

While I am there I get my pneumonia shot too. I leave there and go to Southern States to get my critter foods for the month. The poor little car is really loaded and kinda does the squat.  I treat myself by stopping by the little Thrift store that I love so much and get a new 2.00 long sleeve tee shirt and a little play hut for one of the great-granddaughters.

I stop at the Dollar General Market and they have oranges - Yea! AS long as I have oranges then my tummy is so much happier. They prevent indigestion and upset tummies for me.  They even have small bags of sweet potatoes for 2.00! I have not seen them have that before and I have read how any potato that has color is better for you . I keep trying to feed my eyeballs right!

Still working on those little socks for the granddaughters too.

Crystal and Tim left as soon as Crystal got off from work and headed to W.Va. to stay the night with Tim's mother for his  grandmother's funeral tomorrow.  The weather here is quiet beautiful - I wish it could be like this all Winter long-then I would not Whine about the cold. ~smile~

New Week Up and Running

Another beautiful day so I am trying to take advantage of it and got one of my chicken cages cleaned out and carried the litter to the garden to put on one of my raised beds. To my Total surprise - ALL of my chard plants were GONE! I stood there and scratched my head for a good minute and then got down and looked real good and found a couple of stalks and that was it. Gone - Poof - vanished. There was signs of my mulch being scattered about-but every speck of my chard was gone. All of the other greens were there ! I did find some foot prints in one of my raised beds where I had a few beet plants coming up but they did not look like deer as there was no pointy toes - just a deep round print. I know there was something out there last night as the dogs were beside themselves and having fits , so I got kinda scared and locked the doggie door -just to make sure something I did not want to visit would not come in????Sooooooooooooooooo - Something really was out there. I wish I had one of those wildlife cams-that would be great to satisfy my curiosity.

After I got the critters taken care of I busted some more wood and carried it in the house -since I might not want to poke my nose out the door during the night ?????
Then I carried a long piece of bamboo pole to a gap in the fence in the yard where the deer like to pop in. I had placed a cord across there and of course they had broken it -so I will see if this bamboo does the trick.

I fixed some sweet potato fries in the oven for lunch and then worked on another Christmas gift for some of the little girl toddlers.

Saturday -shirt

This is another piece of the beautiful fabric that Lynne shared with me. I remember seeing these fabrics at some of the quilt shops as I drooled over them but could not afford them as they averaged twelve dollars a yard.  So, I would usually purchase one yard of a piece and then use that for small projects. I have an apron from one and a check book cover. I love them dearly. So, it is no telling what this one might transform into.

I did manage to pull off another thermal shirt-so I have another Christmas gift to mark off of my list.

I was really counting my blessings as I actually was able to Locate the design -download it to my Embird program - resize it and then transfer it to my flash drive and into the embroidery machine and then actually locate it it in there. That was quiet a feat for my brain and I am quiet pleased. So, I would say my Guardian Angels were definitely looking out for me today. ~smile~

Lovely Day

I started off my morning after chores by busting up some firewood. Tim had already cut this , I just needed to bust it into smaller pieces . Then I got all excited because Lynne was coming by to pick me up after work for some fabric fun.

I definitely have one of the greatest friends in the whole world. She had purchased an entire supply of a lady who had passed away -from her sewing room. AND - she shared these wonderful treasures with me.

This wonderful lady must have loved cats and I kept wishing I could ask her what her plans were for these beautiful items?

I was much worse than any kid in a candy store.

I was so overwhelmed with the pure joy of what was being shared with me and so very grateful.

I better take a break - I have got to run out and feed the donkey his supper and put up a couple of chickens that I put out today and it is getting dark on me. I just Never have enough time!

What do you guys put fancy buttons on instead of just shirts?

Tues, Oct. 25 - sometimes I can hardly believe how fast they go

We are almost through the month of October - time really does wait on NOBODY. I got to work indoors most of the day. I ran across a lady making ham/cheese soup and she used lots of celery and onions and broccoli and cheese and some potato flakes to thicken it and it looked so good so I made a pot in the crockpot too. It smelled really good in the brisk Autumn air and even Crystal and Tim ate some for supper.

Then my friend Charlie's stove went out and he is in bad health -not eating good-so I wanted to Make for sure that he had a way to cook his oatmeal and heat the soups I share with him. So, I rambled around on the internet until I found a used stove and Tim and I went to get it this afternoon.

Thank goodness for a young , strong back and a generous,kind heart. The lady said she had just bought all new stainless steel appliances and that the movers had broken the handle on the stove when they moved it. So Tim and her hubby loaded it up on Tim's truck.

Tim got it all tied down and we headed for home as it was getting dark on us. I called Charlie and told him Tim would bring it in the morning and he was as tickled as tickled can be. Friends just cannot let friends do without. That is just the way it is. I wish I had the money to just buy him a  new one but as long as this one works and Charlie is happy with it -then life is good.

I came home and started on a new Christmas present. This is just a peek??? ~smile~ And HO-HO-HO!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yea. another shirt - ho, ho, ho

I was awakened this morning at 3Am -so I got an early start to my day. I worked on a crochet project for about an hour and then deleted a bunch of junk emails before I  went outdoors to do the chores. I was very disappointed as I found one of my weakest baby chicks squashed to death where the bigger ones had all mashed it . Then I noticed that the little rooster  - Daniel - that I had finally developed a wonderful relationship with was not singing his usual good morning song? I turned around to look and it looked like he was sleeping on the floor with his head under his wing. I KNEW that could not be right so I went over and he was dead??? I could not find a mark on him , his craw was full and all of their food and water bowels were ok- he did not seem sick - no runny stool??????? He was just gone- and I miss him.

I came in the house and did the fish and birds and cats and pups their medicine and took my shower and grabbed a bit to eat then headed into the sewing room . Maybe I will have Tim a shirt for Christmas after all. The design tried to give me some trouble but I was able to hand stitch the two boo-boos so they do not show. I Hate taking twice the size seams with the serger to make it down down to the right size. I even took the pattern out of the packet and measured it to see if maybe I had cut out the large instead of the medium, but Nope ? I think these pattern sizes must be for the Jolly Green Giant???? Come to think of it I even had to cut down the small I used for DH????  O well, live and learn and hope for the best.

it is still SO WINDY here it is about to blow us away. But it is lovely and No frost yet - nor do I spot any for the next week! Yea!!!!!! This weather is a treat.

New Week Coming On

I get so miffed at my silly camera - I tried all of the settings and could not get this shirt to come out black with red trim????????  POOH! This is the first men's shirt I have made in four years now and probably will be in the last running considering the trouble I am having with my eyes. Black was always hard for me to see but it was a challenge for sure today .

I was pretty disgusted as I used a size medium men's pattern and I kept thinking , Boy that looks big as I put the pieces together?????  I even took very large seams for me and it still turned out much bigger than a medium. I was wanting it as a Christmas gift for Tim -Crystal's partner ????? But I think it is going to be too large ??? So, I have asked him to come down for a favor ???? that way I can get him to try it on and if it is too large and he does not know anybody it will fit I will send it to the Goodwill or Thrift shop,

Good News as I was typing he showed up and tried it on and he said it fit that he did not like his clothes to fit so tight. It looked good on him - YEA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! All that work was not wasted .

I fixed another pot of that bean soup but this time I followed the recipe and added the tomatoes and baking soda. Crystal and I ate them and we both liked the other version yesterday where I did not put in the tomatoes. I had caught a can of peaches on sale for one dollar when I went to town with them yesterday so I made us a peach cobbler - one of those that makes it own crust and it was very good.

Saturday Going Down

I have a friend who is so gifted at making the cutest cards. I was looking for a crochet hook  the other day and ran across the one on the left that she had made me many years ago of Dear Sweet Cowboy. It almost brought me to tears so I took it and am starting to "line" one of my shelves because I enjoy her "art" . Why not have them "out" where I can enjoy them instead of tucked away out of sight?

Then I went and got my last piece of the ruffled fabric I had bought and thought I was now making my last two scarfs?????????? WRONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  The ruffles are running the WRONG direction so I do not know IF it was rolled on the bolt wrong -or IF someone cut it wrong OR IF I just did not pay close enough attention to ruffles going in another direction????????????????????? Any hoots I cannot use it as I would Never sew all of those little sections together to make 60 inches???????????????????????????????? GRRRRRR~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My next project was another "weird one" - lol Since I had lost a lot of weight my bras do not fit-much too big. They had a little too much "wear" for me to give them away or sell them so I decided to "try" to make them usefull. The beige one I took the serger to and cut straight across the cup . It left some holes in it so I had to take it back to the sewing machine to fix the holes and cut the scrapes .

So instead of worry about cutting holes in the fabric I took the sewing machine to the white one and then took scissors and trimmed off the excess taking the cups from size C to size A. Yea, disappointed to lose my boobs , but I keep telling myself that I now had the body of a young teen. LOL  Why do we always lose weight in our boos first????????????????????????????????

Then I throwed caution to the wind and decided to start another shirt project. The fabric is thermal and soft so I decided to attempt to pull off a man's shirt for my daughter's partner, Tim who is always helping me . I really love this young man and hope he is a keeper. ~smile~   I picked a design that only used ONE THREAD. But when I started it up - of course the machine broke the thread and decided it did not want to play - so I said HECK , I am going to find a Name brand thread . It  was a Mettler Brand that I picked and the machine took right off and sewed perfectly UNTILL it broke a needle????? But , I cleaned that up and it completed the simple design. But I just ran out of time  because I had fixed a bean soup and after some other chores Crystal and Tim and I ate bean soup and cornbread. I got a good laugh because I told the kids that the potatoes in the soup were sweet potatoes. Time laughed and said that I sure did hav a way of getting him to eat foods that he hated - so he ate two bowels of the soup. LOL 

Doesn't pay to get too confident

I started on another shirt project today as the weather turned colder -from 60 to 49 with the winds whipping. Brrr. So I headed to the sewing room again to tackle another shirt project. I got my fabric in my hoop and was trying to decide on the One color that it needed. I do not know how the threads manage to tangle themselves up in a plastic container but they sure did so as I pulled each one out and checked it against the fabric I decided I Had to contain them someway?

This was one way - it is that sticky stuff that the doctors wrap on you to hold on a piece of gauze-except mine was for one of my dogs that has the no chew stuff on it. Bitter -yes! But it is so old that you cannot even smell it now . Plus, I know it will not last very long.

This is an Excellent choice - you take long rubber tubes or hoses that you get from the home supply store and cut them to size to go around your threads . These Last a LONG time and since these are clear you can see the color of threads that you have . I really like these but I ran out of money -of course. lol

I put down my test piece of fabric and picked a color and let it go - well it took off just great and did about 1/3 of the design so I thought -it will be fine!!!!!!!! Famous last words I believe.

I put the shirt fabric on the hoop with the same stabilizer and topper and same thread and let it go. It went JUST beyond where I had gone and throwed a fit. GRRRRRR! Even tore a hole - the harder I tried to sweet talk it -the bigger mess it made. I was SO miffed at it-remembering that was why I had put the embroidery machine up to start with. I got tired of it ruining projects.

I had taken the machine apart several times and could  not figure out Why in the world it would mess up so far in with the same thread, stabilizer, topper, new needle ???? So I got desperate and since I was using a variegated thread I took it off and substituted a solid color and skipped a few stitches and it took right off . I let it run a while before I switched back to the variegated so it could complete it and still flow . It worked ! I was so darn grateful but that took All day long after the fight and the sewing and then having to remove that topper. I did sneak in a brief period of time to search for another design for another project - I guess I am just a glutton for punishment??????

I know all of you can remember Miss Rosie the sewing cat who has been my sewing room guardian for all these years . She still loves her sewing room -but all of my sewing gift precipitants take it for granted that there will always be white cat hair included - compliments of Rosie.

Thurs, Oct. 20-16

Amazing how fast time just flies by -here another week has almost disappeared from sight and use. It has been a difficult week dealing with lots of pain but also a productive week as I have managed a few more Christmas gifts along the way and learned a few more lessons while attempting to do these things. I believe each new day we tackle we learn something new -if not about our projects -then about ourselves as we attempt to put the pieces of the puzzle we call Life in order. Some days they just do not seem to want to fit , no matter how we twist or rearrange them-so we move on to another day and hope to gain more insight ???

Little Miss Cocoa did not quiet know what to think when I captured a almost cute picture with one of her expressions while we were outdoors enjoying this BEAUTIUL day. What I could not see- I surely could smell and hear . There are a few birds still hanging out and the remnant of tired flowers still add colors that I love...

 

I went back to work on the shirts with the fabric that I had almost given up on? It is a two way stretch and every time I attempted to embroidery something on it -the machine would eat the fabric. I had finally put the machine up and given up. But Lynne reminded me to try a topper and I did and it worked , Better -but not perfect - so I then changed out for a new needle . Things went better so I came up with a plan. As I tested a design - IF a thread broke - I would not use that thread anymore - I ONLY would use a thread that did not break. I decided to Only do one simple design and not press my luck, as I did not not to be tossing another shirt in the trash?

The fabric is also very challenging for me to work with , since it has SO much stretch I had to be very careful not to tug at it as I sewed or it would put more stitches or even puckers in one tiny spot than it would in the next ??? Also putting a hem in it was a matter of being very careful because even if I breathed too hard and pulled on a space of hem it would change the number of stitches along the way and you could tell it. It is a size 4X and I wanted all of the seams to look as evenly spaced as possible for the best look possible .

But on the pro side it is very soft fabric and I am hoping that makes it very comfortable to wear.

Weds. Scarf lesson for me

No matter how much I seem to hustle it always takes me two hours to do the outside chores. I was hurrying and as I was almost finished -still complaining with my back -then my hip went out???? GRRRR!  Pain, Pain, Pain - but I will not be deterred. This was another piece of that ruffled fabric that I had found in Jo-Ann's when the girl had told me they did not have any.

I was anxious to see how these would turn out so I divided the piece right down the center , knowing I would have to trim off each side where the girls do all of that crocked cutting from the bolt -thus costing you a good inch on each scarf's width. As I had laid the ruffles apart to cut between them I noticed these ruffles were almost melted flat to the fabric instead of being ruffly.I was disgusted so I gave up and carried them into the living room to the tv where I could get off my feet and painstakingly run my fingers down each row and fight to free them up - all 60 inches of them.

Finally , it took a while but I managed to pull off another scarf. These are almost some kind of silver.

I really do like them because they are so nice and lightweight and soft around your neck-no scratchy-scratchy with these guys!

Then I got sick at my tummy and my sewing adventures came to a close -but it was a sweet treat to get two more Christmas presents made. Yea!

Right now our weather is so BEAUTIFUL and due to be so tomorrow also -but Friday changes it with rain and colder temps. YUCK!

Progress

Yesterday I was just soo busy - did chores and then Crystal and Tim came down and completed the plumbing job in the bathroom. Now I have water to the sink and no leaks.

A friend gave me this pumpkin so I sliced , peeled and dices enough of it to make a big pot of pumpkin soup. After they left at dark it took me two more hours to complete the job. Pumpkins are just so darn hard for me to cut with not much strength in my hands. But I got 3 bags full to put in the freezer.

But then today I was finally Gifted some time to work on my Christmas sewing. I had seen this scarf project back in the Summer and I actually kept up with the idea until now. I had gone to Jo-Ann's to purchase some of this ruffled fabric and they told me they did not have any.  But in my snooping around I found two pieces and this blue is one of them. I discovered that when they cut it they just fly through it not watching what they are doing and when you try to cut a level strip of a certain width - they see-sawing costs you width of fabric. ?????

You cut a width of fabric 10 inches and cut between the layers of ruffles. Then fold right sides together -making sure to not catch your ruffles in this side seam.

I had my pincushion that a friend had made me to help hold the ends of the two pieces together as I attempted to sew them in the little circle they created. It was kinda challenging . But I got lucky.

They said you could wear these scarves a variety of ways . This is one.

You can double it around your neck. I think I like these infinity scarves as I do not have to worry about they blowing off or hanging loose and getting hung in something.

If you loop it three times around your neck I do not think any wind will get down your neck.

This was my very first "selfie" - lol -  I had enough fabric to make one more but it ended up being 12 inches as I did not want to waste any of the fabric.

Now I have another piece a different color- I am anxious to see how that one turns out??????

Having fun is hard work when you are in pain

I thought I would update you with  pictures of Miss Callie's progress. She looks quiet beautiful from the outside , doesn't she? She loves to be outdoors and wants to be with me every step I take out the door.

This is the scar where they had to sew her up the second time around and that little white spot above the line is where the rebar poked out the top of her body.

This long scar on her tummy is where they had to open her up where the rebar went in and follow the path through her body to flush out her long hair that got trapped along the path it followed. I can still hardly believe it happened and that she lived through it . It was hard to watch her heal through it . But she is certainly a survivor after being dumped in the country to starve to death -finding her in a snowstorm where she was a bone yard and too weak to jump through the snow-drifts. She was definitely at the end of her path when fate brought us together. So, my dumped on me cat is now my 600.00 cat. Yea, I still want to strangle whoever did this !

My friend, Charlie asked me to go to a country dinner this afternoon sponsored by a man that he was in business with for many years with a tree farm. If I had not been in so much pain it would have been exceptionally nice. Both George and his wife Sharon were having their birthdays and invited their families and friends and co-workers . The had cooked a pig in the ground and it was all served out doors. The weather was perfect and they even had music. The food was brought in by everybody and it was absolutely delicious. I chowed down on ALL of the salads and had one of the best biscuits I had ever placed in my mouth. Charlie's grandson went with us -he is around 12 and slender as a rail but he managed to enjoy 3 plate fulls. He is a very sweet young man and his passion is tractors. He drives his Pawpaw Charlie's tractor all over their hillside and really loves it. At this stage of his life he dreams of having his own mowing business and he has the gumption to do it. I keep nagging him that an education will help him too and he politely listens. lol

There were lots of cute little kids there and it was amazing to watch them all together interacting. Seeing them at my age was very interesting -watching all the generations interact. Life is definitely a puzzle -filled with all kinds of little and big pieces of our time spent here to combine to make a picture of our life. I was just in so much pain I did not belong there-but - I did get my tummy full and it was a real treat to eat somebody elses' home cooking and there were definitely some Wonderful cooks there. ~smile~

Friday - stuffed peppers and sewing guild

Last night was our Sewing Guild meeting -the one we have where we have an annual dinner as a fundraiser. One of the members families cooked the entire dinner this time. Lynne picked me up and we  got a two hour head start?????

Would you believe we got tangled up in a car accident on interstate and missed the dinner? Well, everybody had already gone upstairs except the family doing the clean up and they went ahead and fed us and then we sneaked into the meeting. We had not missed a lot -mainly business stuff -but our main program was put on by one of our recent members and she did an Excellent job on discussing simple , comfortable ways to dress with accessories to Jazz your outfit up  She really loved what you could do with scarves. One was what she called a poncho scarf which was a rectangle of fabric folded in the center. Then one end you sewed a side halfway up leaving a space for your head. That way the scarf would not come undone or blow off in the wind and you just draped it anyway you flung it. lol

One I found interesting was where she took a store bought scarf-cut it in two-inserted a section of beads between the two sections and added a simple tassel. then a tassel on both end pieces . You placed the beads on your chest and draped the scarf UP over your shoulders and around your neck bringing the tasseled ends back Down to where the beads were. It was very pretty.

As the big finale -she brought these little kits and we each made a pendant necklace to accent a outfit. I was madly in love with mine.

I got Tim to start my chainsaw and cut enough logs to split and fill my little bugger and tote in the house. That was hard because my back is just killing me - it will not let up and I am beginning to wonder if it really is the fibromyalgia OR if it could be my gallbladder acting up again???? I need to do another flush to see? Darn it - I hate to do those things.

I made another batch of stuffed peppers. I thought I was being slick by using Manwich in these -but they did not turn out so good. But, I will not waste them - they can feed me this winter. I wish I had more fish and used that instead.

I picked some beans and shelled them from the garden and cut some chard that i am working on. But my back is just hurting so bad I cannot think and really want to cry.

Weds. Doctor visit and Peppers

This morning I was up bright and early getting ready for my doctor visit. The visit went well, I am very tickled with my lady doctor . She is very smart and compassionate and she showed me the test results . I had some wonderful results such as my sugar was wonderful -considering a few years ago
I was well on my way to being a diabetic! I did not want that and I made drastic life changes so I would not have to take that road.

My cholesterol was also excellent - not like in my younger days -so that too make me happy to see all my hard choices were right for me.

But, I was right about my thyroid being out of whack-so we have started me back on thyroid meds and I go back in 6 weeks to see how the meds are working

Then I ran several errands -watching the time because I knew I would be running out of energy-one of the signs of my thyroid. One errand was funny because I had to go to Walmart to pick up my prescription because when I was forced to take a drug insurance provider - Walmart is the one source that they use. So I decided to get a battery for my watch which had just started to run down. I dreaded asking because I have learned if they do not want to wait on you -they will just say they do not do that-so you need to have the good luck of running into one who will do her job.

I got really lucky and the lady was very professional and got my battery in in no time. Then I showed her how when I had bought my watch that the gal would not adjust the links for me and how it just twirled around my arm and was getting scratched up because it was never where it was suppose to be. Well, this lady was very talented and took pity on me and she took it and took the links out of it to fit me and now my watch stays where it is placed!!!!!!!!!! How wonderful was that! I am so very grateful for the people out there who do their job-they are wonderful people

I also learned a very sad fact today -that over the weekend -Saturday to be exact , a young lady went to the Radford Bridge and jumped to her death. They said she was in her thirties and had tried this once before but got caught and sent to a hospital -but this time was successful. It was very sad.

I had to stop and get gas and it was very low from all the running I had done trying to get the parts for fixing the bathroom plumbing. It is still not fixed but we have decided to just get a new faucet .

I finally made it home and pulled up all of the bell pepper plants in the garden . This was my basket of them. I got them all washed and seeded and cut up ready to stuff them but discovered one of my ingredients was very much out of date and I was afraid to use it- a few years out of date is a little bit too much for me to risk getting sick over???? Now it is late and my energy has hit bottom so I will have to figure it out tomorrow?????

Oct. 11, 2016

They go by so fast I thought it might help to remind myself what day it really is???

One of my sweet little girls - Cocoa- decided to come out and see what all of this new stuff was going on in her home early in the morning???

This will be one of my new morning chores now that the cold weather is moving in . So, getting this to::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

This will be my new routine. I will be so grateful when my sore back decided to co-operate -but the warm heat feels soooooooooooooooooooooo Divine!

While Miss Cocoa kept an eye out I went out and carried in two more loads of wood, which I had to use the electric log splitter to do the job. Then my tires went flat on my little log dollie and I had to pump up the tires.  Then I picked up lots of kinling from the yard where the tree limbs had fallen. Now they go to good use.

Next I set out to move the flowers from the front porch down to where my vehicle was sitting to take 3 of the big ones to a friend who is going to baby sit them for me this winter. This is the lime tree. It is several years of age and has at times had baby limes on it in the Spring time.  I have enjoyed watching it grow and wished I lived where I could plant it outdoors.

This little booger really growed this summer. It is a naval orange tree and it is almost as tall as I am? Plus, when I went to try to carry it -the thorns on this baby were BIG. I spent an  hour just cutting them off as they were way too dangerous to leave on and see my friend get hurt. I sure do hope that I got all of them???? I had to lay this one down on its side and prop it up in the car.

The third one was this beautiful variegated plant. I do not know its name but a dear friend gave it to me many years ago and she has passed away now -so I talk to the plant and tell her how much I love both of them. This plant will be beautiful in my friend's living room . She has the perfect window and the same color scheme. I think it will be very happy there and hopefully enrich my friend's live with its beauty.

I finally got them all down to the car but first I had to load up the car with trash and take it down to the road. I picked up the mail while I was down there and then went and gathered a dozen of nice eggs for my neighbor. She will be surprised this week as there are two blue eggs in with the big brown ones.